


Malfunction

by WickedWitchoftheWilds



Series: Project Olympus [2]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Homesick, Jaardan, Meridian, Mild Peril, Post-Game(s), Prompt Fill, Reminiscing, Snow, biomes, remtech, winter prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:06:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28242867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WickedWitchoftheWilds/pseuds/WickedWitchoftheWilds
Summary: A malfunction in the Remtech on Meridian causes snowfall and Emma reminisces about her first snow.
Relationships: Jaal Ama Darav/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Project Olympus [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1036232
Comments: 6
Kudos: 7





	Malfunction

Meridian was huge. It felt almost impossible to map the entirety of it. The surface was covered with flora and fauna that could be found all over Heleus, and even variations that they hadn’t encountered before. Below the surface was an endless maze of corridors and consoles. It made Emma wonder how the Jaardan ever found their way through the facility.

A few months after discovery—and a crash landing—the Initiative and the Angara found something strange and interesting under the surface.

Biomes.

The Jaardan loved their experiments so it shouldn’t have been a surprise to find them tucked inside. Most of them were inactive, their experiments suspended for hundreds of years. Perhaps the Jaardan were unhappy with the results. SAM was still translating the language.

Ever since they discovered the biomes, the scientists of both the Initiative and the Angara found themselves focusing on cracking them. Their purpose. The Jaardan’s motive. The Initiative wanted the technology to create golden worlds. And the Angara wanted answers to the ultimate question.

Why would the Jaardan create them?

Meridian was incredible. Beautiful. Exciting. And Emma was sick of it already.

The Tempest would stay for days, maybe even a week or two, leave briefly, and then return again. Missions were nearly nonexistent. The Pathfinder wasn’t doing much Pathfinding lately. Tann kept them on Meridian as much as possible. The entire crew was getting restless. Even Peebee wanted a break, a change of scenery.

Emma sighed.

“What’s wrong?” Jaal asked, turning his head to look at her.

Emma shifted, her back pressed against his. They were sitting in one of the inactive biomes. Jaal had a central console open and most of the hardware pulled out and scattered in front of him. Emma was sitting with her back against his and her legs stretched out in front of her.

“This is boring.”

“Is it?”

She shifted to the side and laid down on the floor to stare up at him. “You’re not tired of Meridian yet?”

“It is a fascinating place.”

“Yeah…” she trailed off and stared at the piece in his hands. “But don’t you want to go somewhere else? Anywhere else?”

“Do you?”

She snorted. “Havarl would be nice. I miss it.”

Jaal paused, his eyes softening. “You miss our family doting on you,” he teased.

_Our family._

“A little,” she admitted.

Jaal set down the piece and cupped her cheek. “Have I been neglecting you?” he asked.

Emma pushed herself up. “No.” She kissed his cheek. “You’re perfect. I just feel…” she sighed and stood up, pacing around the console. “I just feel, you know—”

“Stuck?”

She nodded.

“Maybe if we get this back online, we will be rewarded with a trip,” Jaal said.

“Are you trying to tell me I need to help more?” she asked, laughing under her breath.

“It might get us closer to our goal if we both finish this together.”

Emma sat next to him. For an hour they worked with only her music in the background. Sure, her help mostly consisted of handing him what he needed and going through his work with him to make sure he wasn’t forgetting anything. At the end of the hour, they had everything put back into the center console. Now it just had to work.

“Try it now, SAM,” Emma said, a tablet that was connected to the console in her hands.

“Of course, Emma.”

For a moment there was nothing. The tablet wasn’t picking up any connections. Then the screen flickered and the interface flared to life. Blue light lit up the center console. An interface screen flickered above it. Emma couldn’t make out any of the symbols or words. They needed SAM to translate it, but that was a slow-going process.

She sighed.

“Well, it’s on, but we can’t do anything,” she muttered.

“Perhaps.” Jaal stared down at the console. He pointed to a section. “What does this look like to you?”

Emma leaned close, squinting at the interface. “Hmm. Looks like you input data here. Maybe the numbers needed to create certain conditions. Should we try inputting something?” she asked.

“That may not be wise,” Jaal said.

She shrugged. “I wouldn’t call anything we do wise.”

“Fair point.”

“What do you think, SAM?” she asked.

“I could try, Emma. However, I must also agree with Jaal that inputting random numbers could result in disaster.”

Emma frowned. “Can you bring up previous records on this console? Maybe we could just replicate a data set they’ve already used.”

“A moment, please.”

She and Jaal waited in silence while SAM searched the console. Seconds ticked by before he confirmed the existence of previous experiments. But those also came with a warning that the Jaardan may have created disastrous conditions. There was a danger to replicating them.

“Then I guess we’re waiting,” Emma grumbled.

“I suggest returning to the Tempest. It has been several hours since you’ve eaten. I will alert you when I have finished translations,” SAM said.

“Good idea, SAM.” Emma set the tablet down and stretched her arms over her head. “Food sounds great.”

Jaal reached for her hand and they turned to leave together. The door didn’t open. Emma waved her free hand in front of it to trip the sensor, but the door didn’t budge.

“Well…I don’t like that” she murmured, still trying to get the door to open.

“Neither do I.” Jaal let go of her hand to run his around the frame. There wasn’t even an interface beside the door. Nothing to hack into.

“SAM, can you get the door open.”

“I am trying, Emma,” The AI answered. “I have alert—”

The floor shuddered under their feet. A loud humming sound came from the center console. Emma turned around to look at it. The empty data sets on the interface were now filled. Symbols flickered in and out. Emma didn’t know what the numbers were, but she didn’t like this at all. They were trapped. In a biome. A biome with variables they didn’t know yet.

Emma shivered.

The air—stagnant and unmoving before—was now bracing. “What do we do?” she asked, her breaths turning into small puffs of air. Cold would be the worst. She wasn’t wearing an environment suit, just leggings and a hoodie. A mistake. Clearly.

“Maybe we can clear the data,” Jaal suggested.

They moved back to the console. Emma touched the interface, but it just made a noise every time she touched it. Nothing changed. She sighed in frustration. “I’m going to take out the board. See if that shuts it off.” She stuck her fingers into the slot beside the panel and tried to pry it off. Electricity snapping against the pads of her fingers made her withdraw. “Fuck.”

Jaal grabbed her hand to make sure she wasn’t hurt. “I believe SAM said he was alerting the others. They’ll get us out of here.”

Emma’s teeth began to chatter. “I hope so.”

Jaal pulled her hands in between his own to warm them. Something cold and wet hit her cheek and rolled down her skin. Looking up, she saw fat flurries coming down from the ceiling. Snow. The flakes began to gather on the floor.

“Great. I guess we know what the environment for this biome was,” she mumbled.

Jaal tugged her back to the door. The top of the frame didn’t provide much of a shelter, but it kept some of the snow off of them. Emma shivered. She hoped the others were coming. She didn’t like the idea of turning into a popsicle. Jaal pulled her close, his arms going around her back to keep her close to his chest. She buried her face into his rofjinn.

The snow came down quickly. In five minutes, it was already up to Emma’s calves. It would bury them first.

“Have I ever told you that Voeld is my least favorite planet,” she said, trying to distract herself.

He chuckled. “Many times.”

She snorted.

“Do you hate snow?” he asked.

“Only when it’s trying to kill me.”

Jaal’s hands moved up and down her arms. “When did you first see snow?” He was trying to distract her. The snow was creeping up to her knees now.

“The Citadel didn’t have snow,” she said, sniffing. “In the residential sections they would have falling snow on the displays and sometimes they would heap fake snow on the playgrounds for kids. I wasn’t allowed on the playgrounds yet. I was still being watched closely by the Council.”

Her leggings were wet and freezing to her skin. The snow was at her knees. It was still going. God, she hoped the others would get the door open soon.

“One night Alec went out to the playground and shoveled a bunch of the fake snow into a bag and carried it back to our apartment. He lowered the temperature so it was freezing and when we woke up there was fake snow all over the floor. It was a mess.” She laughed. “Ellen made him clean it up too, but after we got to play in it. It wasn’t real. But I still consider it my first snow.”

Jaal rested his cheek on top of her head.

“He was a good dad,” Emma said, trying to swallow the lump in her throat. “I wish I got to tell him that.”

The snow was up to her thigh. If anything, this was a lesson to wear her environment suit even in Meridian. This place had too many damn surprises to not be prepared.

A thump on the other side of the door made her jump. Scott called her name, the sound muffled by the metal door. Jaal banged his fist against the door. “We’re here!” he called.

Emma counted the seconds in her head. They turned into minutes. But she heard them working on the other side. And Scott’s cursing. It made her smirk. The corner of her lip cracked. Warm blood—the only thing warm on her—rolled down her chin. The snow was up to her waist. She couldn’t feel her legs anymore. They were just numb.

A grinding sound made her wince. But the door began to open. First by inches and then by feet. Scott didn’t bother opening it all the way. Just enough for Emma and Jaal to get through. The warmth was a shock and a blessing at the same time.

Peebee helped Emma peel off her soaked leggings and then coaxed her into sitting down on a bench. She needed to get dry before she could get warm.

“What happened?” Scott asked.

“For once, this was not my fault,” Emma said, her voice wobbly.

Jaal took off his rofjinn and draped it over her legs. “We put the console back together and the program started on its own.” 

“I believe it was a malfunction with the programming. I may be able to shut it off from the main control system,” SAM said.

“Alright. Peebee and I can go do that. Jaal can take Emma back to the Tempest. Make sure Lexi checks you out,” he ordered.

“Yeah, yeah,” she waved him off.

“I mean it, Emma.”

“I will make sure she does,” Jaal promised. It was enough for Scott as he turned to leave, taking Peebee with him. Before Emma could stand, Jaal scooped her up in his arms. “I will carry you back.” He kissed her cheek.

“Thank you.” She wasn’t quite sure her legs would take her far right now. “Jaal?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you think if I play this up, Scott will let us go back to Havarl?”

Jaal laughed. “Perhaps.”

**Author's Note:**

> All kudos, comments, and bookmarks are loved! 
> 
> You should totally come hang out with me on [Tumblr!](https://wickedwitchofthewilds.tumblr.com)


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